Above her, the wood creaked. She tilted her head, watching through the slender cracks in the planks.
He was lying on his stomach now.
His face peeked down over the edge of the boards. His chin rested on his arms. His dark lashes cast soft shadows across his cheeks. Then he began to hum again—the same song. Only softer. Slower. As if he were singing it to her.
Drawn by a force older than any spell her mother could cast, Jewel pushed forward. Slowly. Carefully.
Out of the reeds.
Past the abandoned crawdad traps.
Out from under the dock.
Closer.
His humming washed over her like sunlight warming coral. Her gaze never left his face. The way he looked at the water… it wasn’t like the others. There was no hunger to catch or trap. Only wonder. Only… hope.
His hand dipped beneath the surface.
His fingers spread. Open. An irresistible invitation.
She stared at the pale skin. She could see the fine lines of his palm, the faint scars, the way the water caressed his knuckles as he moved his hand back and forth in a gentle wave.
She shouldn’t.
She mustn’t.
But she did.
Jewel bit her bottom lip as she reached up. Slowly—slowly—her fingertips brushed his.
Fear pulsed through her at the instantaneous jolt. Her mother’s words of caution flashed through her mind.
He will destroy any protection I have.
A surge of energy—like lightning darting through the clouds—shot through her arm and across her chest. Her gills fluttered. Her pulse roared in her ears like a typhoon.
His gasp was so loud that she could hear it as if he were next to her. A low growl slipped his lips—instinctual, startled, possessive. The sound sent a shiver down her spine to the tip of her tail.
Terrified by the sensation, she jerked away, vanishing beneath a spray of bubbles. She darted back into the reeds, her heart racing, her limbs trembling.
What was that? What just happened?!
The boy was no ordinary land-dweller. He had magic. She had felt it in his touch. Not the dangerous kind, not the kind her sisters used to tempt prey—no, this was different.
It was old.
It was frightening.
Still panting, Jewel swam quickly, fleeing past the coral mounds and glowing anemones. She darted through the kelp curtain that marked the border back into her mother’s protected waters.
And yet…
She couldn’t help herself.
She slowed, her arms moving to her side as she flicked her tail. Her mind was telling her not to look back, but her heart refused to listen. Slowly, carefully, she rose just beneath the surface and peered back.
He was there, sitting at the end of the dock, a bemused smile on his lips, pressing his hand against his chest as if it still tingled. The moons painted his skin in silver, and his eyes—those beautiful golden eyes—searched the water like he was hoping she might return.
